


A Chance Meeting in the Stalk Market | A Dragon Age x ACNH AU

by picchar



Series: Alistair x Rythlen One Shots | Dragon Age [1]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins, どうぶつの森 | Animal Crossing Series
Genre: Gen, Named Cousland (Dragon Age)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:48:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25451923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/picchar/pseuds/picchar
Summary: Alistair tries to sell his turnips and ends up making a friend.
Series: Alistair x Rythlen One Shots | Dragon Age [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1865473
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14
Collections: Alistair x Rythlen One-Shots | Dragon Age





	A Chance Meeting in the Stalk Market | A Dragon Age x ACNH AU

_ *Beep bip bip beeeeep* _

_ *Bip bip bip beeeeep* _

_ *Beep* _

_ *Be—* _

“Alright, alright!” Alistair exclaimed, extracting his phone from his pocket. A quick glance at the list of notifications on the lock screen told him that all the messages were from his friend Zevran. 

_ Might as well check what he wants _ , Alistair thought as he reached his front door. With one hand he reached for his keys, while the other unlocked his phone and navigated to the long string of messages. 

“Maker’s pajamas,” he sighed as he scrolled, reading variations of “hurry up!!!!”, “where are you?!?”, “650!!!”. He had a feeling even before he looked at the messages what this was all about, but now seeing them, he couldn’t help but laugh. Turnips, of course. Unlike his persistent friend, Alistair was not fully invested in the stalk market. While Zevran had plunked all his bells into turnips, Alistair had almost forgotten to buy any last Sunday. 

He unlocked his door and stepped in, then pulled it shut behind him. He engaged the locks in the darkness, not wanting to switch the lights on just yet. One less thing to disinfect. He carefully removed his mask and slowly deposited it into the trash bin in the entrance hallway. It looked like it was time to empty it soon. He grabbed a disinfectant wipe from on top of his shoe cabinet and cleaned his phone, setting his phone on a clean spot on the cabinet before discarding the wipe. 

_ *Beep* _

_ *Beep* _

_ *Beep* *Bipipipip* *Beep* *Beep* _

“Alright, alright, just let me shower!” Alistair yelled at the phone, as if that would stop the messages or the person behind them. Thankfully, the bathroom was near the entrance. He entered, carefully removed his clothes and placed them into the clothes hamper before getting in the shower. Warm water soothed his tired muscles and thankfully the phone stopped beeping long enough for him to enjoy the sensation.

_ *Beep* _

_ *Beep* _

Moment ruined, he grumbled as he finished his shower and dried himself off. He left the bathroom and grabbed his phone as he walked over to his closet, tossing it onto the couch on the way there. Every so often he would be surprised at how neat his place was. Prior to the lockdown, he would have used clothes strewn about the place. The kitchen sink would be full of dirty plates, the trash bin overflowing. Now, he cleaned everything right after he finished using them, and would promptly empty his bin when it was full. His closet was unusually full, clean clothes all folded and hung properly, instead of in a pile on his bed. He dressed, underwear first, followed by a well-worn pair of sweatpants. Then he made his way back to the couch.

_ *Beep* _

_ *Beep* _

_ *Beep* _

Also on the couch was his charging Switch, not far from where his phone landed. With one hand he unplugged the device, his fingers gripping it while awkwardly tugging the cord. The other hand he used to reply to his friend. 

> _ Alistair: Online. _
> 
> _ Zevran: FFIINALLLLYYY!! _
> 
> _ Zevran: Dodo TH34S _
> 
> _ Zevran: Hurry, it’s almost 10 _

Alistair glanced at the digital clock on the upper right corner of his phone. 9:45. No wonder Zevran was rushing him: Nook’s Cranny was closing soon. He booted up the game, grabbed his turnips, and went straight to the airport. After spamming A to skip the dialogue with Orville, he finally got the prompt to enter the Dodo Code. He punched it in, and of course…

> _ [Wuh-oh! Looks like we’re getting interference… Hang on…] _

He waited for a few moments before trying again, and after a couple more “Wuh-oh!”s, he finally got through and his character walked through the gates. 

9:53. He’d be cutting it really close. 

It took some time, but he finally emerged from the airport of—what was the island name again? Fyr. Weird name. Fire? Fear? Fir?

He immediately pulled his nook phone out to search Nook’s Cranny on the map. As he did so, another player walked toward and past him towards the airport. Just as he spotted the store on the left side of the map, near Resident Services (thank the Maker), a message scrolled across the screen:

> _ [Please close the window.] _

Alistair put his Nook Phone away and pushed the left joystick to take a step forward when he was interrupted again, this time by: [ _ Looks like someone’s leaving.],  _ followed by the cutscene of the player leaving through the airport. The moment the scene ended, he sprinted towards the store.

“Ohhhhh—” he started, the note in his voice going up as his character neared the shop, only to be stopped again by another player.

> _ [Looks like someone’s on their way here!] _

“—blast it!” Next chance he got, he dashed towards the shop, his frustration mounting as he was interrupted nearly every few steps by a player leaving or arriving. Why was he doing this again?

He sighed. At least he was a few steps away from the shop now, with a player sitting on a director’s chair by the door. They were surrounded by bags of bells. Tips? This must be the island’s representative then. 

Another cutscene and he was finally free again. But just as he was about to hit the A button by the store’s door, its lights suddenly shut off. 

“Andraste’s burning under-drawers!” The build-up of frustration of just trying to get to the store was so great he completely forgot that he didn’t really need or cared about selling his turnips. He just sat staring dumbfounded at his screen, slowly deflating, his frustration seeping out with each breath. The players who arrived after him treated it as business as usual and simply left, disappearing from his screen. 

After a couple of “Looks like someone left quietly.” scrolling across his screen, Alistair decided it would be his turn. Suddenly, however, a speech bubble appeared above the island owner’s character. Ry, was their name, apparently. 

> _ Ry: Sorry about that. [Apologetic reaction] _
> 
> _ Ali: Not yr fault! [Flourish] ill find another island. _
> 
> _ Ry: [Encouraging] Yeah, there are a lot of people opening their islands. _
> 
> _ Ry: Hopefully you find one that doesn’t require tips. _
> 
> _ Ali: Did you? _
> 
> _ Ry: No, but people were generous. _
> 
> _ Ali: [Confident] Get a lot? _

Alistair moved his character around the bags of bells, careful not to pick any up by accident.

> _ Ry: Yeah. I'm surprised how many people came over.  _
> 
> _ Ry: Been here for hours! [Shocked] _

He chuckled as the island owner began picking up the bells around their chair, stopping when there were 3 bags left. 

> _ Ry: For you. I have more than enough.  _

Alistair chose the surprise reaction to express, well, his surprise.

> _ Ali: Really? _
> 
> _ Ry: [Flourish] _

“Thank you!” Alistair sent before picking up the bags. He used the apologetic reaction after he picked up the last one. Three million bells—he’d never even had three hundred thousand, nor would he have seen anything near 3 million even if he was able to sell his turnips. He hesitated, not knowing what to do next. Now would be good to head back to his own island and let the player behind Ry rest, he supposed.

> _ Ali: Guess ill b heading home. Ty again!  _
> 
> _ Ry: You’re welcome! I’ll see you out.  _

That elicited a chuckle from Alistair. Whoever this person was had such impeccable manners that it bled into the game. They even used full sentences with properly spelled words! Ry started moving towards the airport with Alistair trailing behind. When they reached the airport entrance, Alistair paused before going in. He was typing out a goodbye when:

> _ [Please close the window.]  _

“Oh, come on!” Alistair said out loud as another player appeared. 

> _ Ry: Hi! Sorry, but the store’s closed.  _
> 
> _ Paul: WHy is yr gate open thn?! _
> 
> _ Ry: I was just about to close it. _
> 
> _ Paul: Geez, jst go n airplane mode ffs _

Alistair already had his finger on the R button to tell this ‘Paul’ off, but before he could open the window, the bugger had used the - button to quietly leave. Ry’s player must have been stunned at the outburst because she said nothing after ‘Paul’ left. Both their characters stood frozen for some time, and Alistair felt like he should say something.

> _ Ali: U knw, 1 good thing abt the pandemic is how it brings ppl together _

When no reply came from Ry, Alistair wondered if it would have been better if he said nothing, or perhaps just said his goodbyes. He was just about to apologize when:

> _ Ry: I know exactly what you mean. _

* * *

> _ Ali: U knw, 1 good thing abt the pandemic _
> 
> _ Ali: Is how it brings ppl together _

> _ Ali: Online _

Rythlen stared at her Switch, a soft snort of laughter escaping her, her anger dissipating.  _ What a strange person _ . Ali’s message was not what she was expecting at all, but it definitely was welcome after that other player’s tirade. When she thought about it, the pandemic  _ did _ bring people together, and in more ways than one. 

  
  


She typed out her reply using her smartphone. So much easier than typing on the Switch.

> _ Ry: I know exactly what you mean. _

As Ali left her island after some goodbyes, Rythlen set her Switch down as the cut scenes of his departure played. When control was returned to her, she picked it back up, but did nothing. An idea played in her mind. She tapped her thumb on the side of her Switch in contemplation before hitting the home button and navigating to the “Users Played With” list. Ali was first on the list. Again she tapped her thumb, wondering if she should send a friend request.

> _ One good thing about the pandemic is how it brings people together. _

"Indeed", she thought. With a small shrug, she sent the request.

Just a few seconds later, a notification popped up saying it was accepted.

That made her smile.

  
  
  



End file.
